Mag Report - GROUP (Jul-Aug 2008)

Another GROUP magazine has landed on my desk and I've had a great time reading through it. Each time I get this magazine I discover at least one good idea or thought that I work in to the Middle School ministry here at NCBC. But this time I've found at four great ideas and I have already used one on our middle school mission trip with Group work camps.

What I liked: As I already said, I really liked Volume 34 of GROUP and choosing just one thing I liked was hard. But reading through Mark DeVries stuff has always been a joy for me and so I have to say his interview with Doug Fields and his & Jeff Dunn-Rankin's article "the fix" are my first choice of things I liked.

???: I really liked the interviews of different youth leaders in the article "Do as I say, Not as I did." The only one I didn't really get was "Just check the Box." I've been on a number of trips and getting the rental companies insurance has never been something we invested in. I think it is very important that when planning any trip that all possible insurance claims are looked at and covered. If that is where this article was going I totally agree.

Key statement: Kurt Johnston said, "Boys and girls come into our ministries, but young men and young women leave” concerning what happens in middle school ministry and I so totally agree.
Something creative: I really liked the idea by Fred Mitchell called "shine youth light" and plan on using that idea in the upcoming school year. Thanks Fred.

MS Mission trip - Day 5

Well, here it is and I can so believe it is done and then I can't believe it is ending. Tomorrow we will wake early and head home to lovely Cedar Rapids, IA. I want to share with you some statements from the kids:

1) I want to come back and do this again next year - a soon to graduate 8th grader
2) I'm so glad I went on this trip - a soon to be 7th grader
3) I got to know these friends better than I have ever know them
4) I felt like I was really listen to and my ideas were smart - a soon to be 7th grader
5) How can we do this when we get home? We just need to love out loud.

And that is what we have done all week and what these young men and ladies are looking forward to doing when they get home.

The pictures are of some of the final things the group did so please click on the picture above and watch a short slide show. Then on July 18th come join the group at 2pm in the middle school room for a short (20 min max) slide show and open mic sharing - you don't want to miss this.

MS Mission trip - Day 4

Well it has finally happen. I have been on a Middle school trip longer than any other trip I have been on with middle school kids. Wow! Has this been a powerful time for all of us. I have watched the kids take spiritual step(s) forward in their walk and understand of Jesus in their lives.
Today, we got a chance to "Love Out Loud" w/Forgiveness. The kids have dealt with some issues in their lives and have given them over to God. I don't know what they are but I know that God has been working in mighty ways.

If you would like to see what the kids some pics of the kids please click on the picture. It is a shorter set of pictures than usually (only 16) since it takes a long to time to load them here.

Please keeping praying for:
- The kids to see God even more
- That Debbie, Erin, and myself stay focused on God and what He is doing in the kid’s lives.
- For yourself - be ready to ask a lot of questions to the kids when they get home. They each got a book and in it are a lot of post trip questions and devotionals that I would highly recommend the kids to go through. Just ask the kids to "Look in the Book" and they'll know what that means.

MS Mission Trip - Day 3

I'm setting at a Starbucks Coffee in the mall of America enjoying a nice White Chocale Mocha and putting this report together. Today has been a wonderful time as the kids have had a chance to "Love out Loud" - Risks. Today is a day off from the normal stuff and we are taking advatage of it by going to the mall and then to a local beach to get cooled off and play together. To be able to see what the group did today please click on the above picture and you will get a good idea.

Again thanks so much for all your prayers and letting us go on this great trip.

Tomorrow we will be back at the two homes and I'm looking forward to seeing what God is going to do in these kids lives.

MS Mission trip - Day 2

"Love Our Loud" serve - was today's theme here at Groupworkcamps and was it a serving day - oh my! I must admit that when I heard that our group was going to 2 mature adult homes I was a little nervous (OK I was a lot nervous) - how could our wonderfully energetic middle schoolers really click with these mature adults. Well I was put in my place and the Holy Spirit had his way in so many ways.

You can see from the pictures (just click on the picture above to see a slide show) and you can see the kids had a blast. Some statements from the group:

- I had so much fun
- that guy is really old but really cool
- we get to do this again tomorrow - YEA!
- Thank you for letting us serve
- Thank you for serving our mature adults (from the ladies we helped)

The day wasn't over after our service project. The boys and Lauren got a chance to serve the group by preparing, serving, and cleaning up dinner. Pulled pork and fruit - good stuff! The guys (and Lauren) really pulled together and got it all done with a smile.

A group of us got to hit the showers but when we got back the night was totally awesome. A couple of our kids got to help lead in worship (see pictures to see who they were). Then it was a very meaningful moment for the group as they got a chance to wash each other’s feet and think of what Jesus did.

After that wonderful time our youth group time blew me away. The group not only was moved by what they got a chance to be a part of but they also had a lot to say about it. They shared some great ideas of what we can do as a group back home to keep loving out loud when this mission trip is all over.

Thanks to all the parents and the people at NCBC that made it possible for us to go on this mission trip. It has already been well worth it.

Tomorrow it is another day of serving and then a get away time to the Mall of America and a local beach.

MS Mission trip - Day 1

Well we are here and it has already been great. With a wonderful send off from NCBC last week during all services and a great prayer time with the parents today we are in Minneapolis, MN ready to get some sleep and then start our first day tomorrow. We are staying at a wonderful church called Richfield United Methodist Church and they have a heart to reach out to their community with Christ love.

The theme of this year group work camps is "Love Out Loud" and here is a little thought from the book they gave us:

"Jesus' love for people was sacrificial. It was public. It was clear. It was loud." Good stuff.

Tomorrow I hope to share where our two teams (we are broken down into two teams of 6) went to serve.

I put a few pictures up on my flickr account (just click the picture to see a slide show or click here to see it). Below are a few statements from the kids that made my day:

- My suitcase and eat your suitcase for breakfast
- What? I'm not supposed to do that?
- Killer super frog takes out all during Debbie turn
- I'm really having a great time
- The drive here was the best part of the trip so far

I hope to post each day but can't promise because I'm working with a slower computer.

Book Report – Reaching a Generation for Christ – part 1

Wow! It has been a long time since I have written a book report. I’m starting a series of reports on the book “Reaching a Generation for Christ” as it is a very long text book. I’m glad that I’m reading through it and I don’t want to just get through it but I really want to systematically glean more from it than an average read. I’m going to read parts of this book, then read other books and magazines, and then read more of this book.

Part 1 – I found two key ideas and one key statement from part 1 “Framework for Youth Ministry” that really stood out to me.

The first key idea came from Steve Patty’s “A developmental framework for doing Youth ministry.” Mr. Patty looks at the development of adolescents and how that effects a youth ministry. I’m very interested in adolescent development and Mr. Patty’s words really hit home for me. He uses James W. Fowler’s stages of growth to help explain this development. Stage 2 & 3 of adolescent development are the most important to me. Stage 2 is all about concrete/tangible events and Stage 3 is all about relational events. This has caused me to rethink how I evaluate my ministry because currently I’m not considering the development of our kids as much as needs to.

The second key idea came from Dave Rahn’s “A Sociological framework for doing youth ministry.” His figures really didn’t help me much but his thoughts of how to use the different social context kids are in was. Mr. Rahn also shared that students are making the interpretations of the environments they are in. They define how they react to what is happening around them which in turn changes the social landscape they are in and this circle keeps going on. I really liked Mr. Rahn’s starter lists for studying my kid’s social landscape. “All social context is relative” was a key thought to me as I often forget how influenced my kids are by those around them and the different social environments they are in.

One last key statement that really stood out to me was from Mark H. Senter III. He said, “Parental contact took place when the relationship between parent and young person was based on trust and respect. This latter contact many times extended to a circle of the adolescent’s friends.” The reason this stood out to me is the group of volunteers that work with my kids are almost all parents of or former parents of middle school kids. They have so much influence on the kids who come, get involved, and actually get the truth of God’s word and it is important to me to keep equipping them.

I know this book will stretch my thought process greatly and I’m looking forward to that. When I’m done I hope to have some really strong ideas that will influence me and my ministry to help the kids, their parents, and my sponsors take spiritual steps forward.

Mag report - YOUTHWORKERS Journal July/Aug 2008

The new issue of YOUTHWORKER Journal has some great thoughts for me to consider. It concentrates on Volunteers which is always an import part of my ministry. I’m grateful that there are others out there who are willing to share their ideas of how to help, train, improve, love, etc. on volunteers.

What I liked: There are some great articles on volunteers and it has been hard for me to choice only one that I liked but I think Danette Matty’s “Thou Shalt Care” article wins. She shares 11 commandments that leaders should do to show care to their volunteers. Ideas like always encourage, let them share ideas, remind them about their purpose, and pray for them are just a few she shared. One big take away I got from this was to “plan a connecting time once or twice a year with just you and us – your leaders – at which we stuff our faces, tell funny stories, and play together.”

???: Dr. Steve Vanegriff shared a wonderful list on IDing Intergenerational leaders for people like me to use. One of his ideas I think is really hard to do for anyone who hasn’t been a parent of a teen. He suggests to look for people who “thinks like a parent, even if not one” and I think that is over the top. I liked the spirit of this thought but I wouldn’t use it as a way to know what kind of volunteer I need on my team.

Key statement: Jennifer Bradbury interviewed three veteran youth leaders and called it “No more Lone Rangers!” Mark Oesteicher (Marko) shared this, “I’ve found that bringing in a youth worker from another nearby church, who has expertise in youth ministry I don’t have, can be extremely valuable to my volunteers and very light-lifting to me.” Which was a huge idea for me and something that will happen this year for my sponsors.

Something creative: Marko suggested that getting books for your volunteers to read and discuss is important for any youth group. There is an excellent and creative grouping of books that YOUTHWORKER has suggested that goes with this idea in the “Resources for Working with Volunteers.” I think these are a good set of starter books for my volunteers.

prayers this last month - Jun 08 - Flood of 2008 month

I've had a chance to read over my devotional journal from last month and there is so much going through my mind. The flood of 2008 will be one for the history books for centuries and I can only think of all those people who are affected by it. I praise God that here in CR there were no flood related deaths and I believe a large part of the reason that is true is because of what the churches of the city did. They came together under the banner of "serve the city" and did just that - served the city at its greatest need. There is a lot more ahead of us (truth is the recovery is only starting) and I know the church will be there. Below are my simple prayers I wrote throughout the month as I read through II Corinthians:

Lord, thank you for sending your son to die so that I might live a new life for you.

Lord, my all see you through this hard time and open there eyes to your truths.

Lord, as we suffer through this time my you use us to come along others to pray, care, and share with them.

Lord, thank you for always being there and that we can always rely on you all the time.

Lord, pls keep me focused on you so that I might follow after you just that much better.

Lord, I want to share Your truth honestly – help me to do that with a humble heart.

Lord, open my eyes to Your truth even if I don't understand - for then you can mold me and grow me more.

Lord, you bless us so much, you pour yourself out to us so much so, thank you Lord for loving us so much.

Lord, no matter what is happening or where things are at you are all ways here - thank you Lord.

Lord, help me to be a person who is watched by the world and they only see you.

Lord, my I turn towards you no matter what the situation I'm in. Open my eyes to see you in all things.

Open my eyes to the needs around me Lord and may I do whatever You placed me here on this earth to do with all I have.

Lord, open my eyes to things you have started in my life that you want me to finish - and may I do it and do it well.

Lord, may you pour out your blessings on this group so that people will see you and not us.Lord, may people hear & know You not me.

Lord, open my eyes to your leading and may I follow it and not me - may I lead your way only.

Lord, open our minds to what you have planned today to be as weak as possible so you might be even stronger.

Lord, forgive me of my self-fulfilling attitude. Humble me Lord, mold me into what you want Mark Eades to be.

Lord, help me to test and have regular spiritual checkups with you. May you find me humbly before you always.

7&8 grade summer trip final stuff

Finally got a chance to finish downloading all the pictures I have to flickr and wanted to post them here for anyone to access. Just click on the day you want to see pictures and get a slide show of all that I have:

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4

Again this summer trip was just wonderful and a big thank you to all that helped put this trip together - it is one for the history book.

Mag Report - simply jr hi newsletter from Group - Jul08

Another simply jr high newsletter has made it to my desk and I had a chance to read it while away with my wife on our 15th anniversary. Here are some of my thoughts:

What I liked: There was a number of things I really liked in this newsletter so I had to choice one that really stood out. Alan Ramsey’s thoughts in “The veteran’s voice” was just excellent. The need for us to “pace” with our middle schoolers is critical. We can’t fix them quickly but we can be there and slowly take one more spiritual step with them through these wonderfully crazy development years. The whole idea of “pace” has me thinking in a new direction – thx Alan.

???: I really liked Steve Otey’s thoughts in “Partnering with parents.” The idea of having a parent social is a great idea and affirms in my mind what we do in our Middle school ministry. The only part that I disagree with is the purpose of these socials - “to give the parents updates and training about how they can be better parents.” I’m all about giving parent updates and suggestions on parenting but I would never assume that I could give them anything that would make them a better parent. I’m just stepping into parenting a pre-teen in my own life and the one thing I know is that I really don’t know much about parenting a pre-teen.

Key statement: from the stats’N stuff – To Quote: “Not every action is supposed to make you feel happy. You can question it. It’s okay to question it – and play it a different way.” Jeronimo Barrera, vp of development for Rockstar Games, on the hyper-violent Grand Theft Auto IV

Something creative: We are going on our first Middle School focused mission trip next week (thx to groupworkcamps) and we are really excited. In Plug ‘N Play a discussion starter idea called – What color? is what we will use to help debrief this trip when it is all done – Thx Dustin Sauder.

These newsletter has very useful ideas and has helped me think in different direction so that I don’t get into a rut in doing MS ministry. Thx Group and simply jr high for put this out to us.

7&8 Summer trip 2008 - the other days

Sorry all for being so behind on updating this. Didn't have internet connection at the college we were staying at. I'm at Westfield Louis Joliet mall for the next 2 hrs and then we will be on the road to home. I've attached a couple pictures here but if you would enjoy seeing a much bigger set of pics please come join us at 6 pm in the middle school room and we will be doing a slideshow and open mic for the kids to share.